[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Hyde Park 6-23-2008 by L.L. No. 2-2008.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building Code administration and enforcement — See Ch. 40.
Numbering of buildings — See Ch. 41.
Garbage, rubbish and refuse — See Ch. 66.
Outdoor wood-burning furnaces — See Ch. 79.
Snow and ice removal — See Ch. 90.
Zoning — See Ch. 108
[1]
Editor's Note: The provisions of this local
law were originally adopted as Ch. 39 but were renumbered in order
to maintain the alphabetical sequence of the Code.
The Town Board of the Town of Hyde Park finds
that there exist in the Town of Hyde Park serious conditions arising
from property owners who neglect the maintenance of the exterior of
their properties by allowing vegetation to become overgrown and/or
by allowing their properties to become repositories for garbage, rubbish
and debris. The Town Board further finds that the pervasive and uncontrolled
placing or keeping of junked motor vehicles on properties constitutes
an unsanitary, unsafe and dangerous condition. The Town Board has
determined that in order to protect and promote the public health,
safety, and welfare and prevent blight and the spread thereof, it
is necessary to provide for the removal of such overgrown vegetation,
garbage, debris, rubbish, and junked vehicles so that all properties
shall be maintained in conformity with the standards enunciated in
this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
All materials resulting from the construction, excavation,
renovation, equipping, remodeling, repair or demolition of structures,
property or roads, or resulting from the preparation therefor (including
unenclosed storage on a residential property of construction materials
for which no building permit has been issued), as well as materials
consisting of vegetation resulting from land clearing and grubbing,
utility line maintenance and seasonal and storm related cleanup, except
when such materials are organized in piles or structures for purposes
of composting. Such materials include, but are not limited to, bricks,
concrete, and other masonry material, soil, rock, wood, wall coverings,
plaster, drywall, plumbing fixtures, nonasbestos insulation, roofing
shingles, asphaltic pavement, glass, window frames, electrical wiring
and components, plastics, carpeting, foam padding, linoleum, metals,
or any combination thereof which are incidental to construction, excavation,
renovation, equipping, remodeling, repair, or demolition.
All putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from
growing, processing, marketing, and preparation of food items, including
the containers in which they are packaged, except when such wastes
are organized in piles or structures for purposes of composting.
Any motor vehicle which is either unregistered, uninspected,
dismantled (in whole or in part), in a wrecked condition, or in such
condition or state of disrepair that such vehicle cannot be registered
immediately without extensive repair or for which the cost or repair
exceeds the book value of the motor vehicle. Lack of a license plate
or the incorrect license plate affixed to a motor vehicle shall be
presumptive evidence that the vehicle is unregistered.
Any person, individual, business, partnership, firm, corporation
whose name is listed as grantee on the last deed of record for the
property recorded with the Dutchess County Clerk.
All discarded or worthless nonputrescible solid wastes consisting
of both combustible and noncombustible wastes, including but not limited
to paper and paper products, rags, wrappings, cardboard, tin cans,
wood, glass, metals, plastics, tires, bedding, cloth, crockery, furniture,
appliances, and similar items.
An individual who leases, uses or occupies a rental property.
No property owner, tenant, or agent thereof,
shall cause, permit, or allow any of the following standards to be
violated:
A.
All landscaping shall be maintained so that lawns,
hedges, bushes and trees are not overgrown, constituting an unsafe
condition or blight.
B.
All properties shall be maintained free and clear of all garbage, rubbish, and debris. Such refuse shall be kept inside the building or buildings on the property, inside a structure screening the refuse from neighbors and the public, or in a container complying with Chapter 108, Zoning, of this Code, and shall be regularly collected and removed from the property.
C.
A junked vehicle shall not be parked or stored in the open, but shall only be parked or stored inside a building or inside a structure screening the vehicle from neighbors and the public, unless the vehicle is permitted to be in an unenclosed area pursuant to § 108-30.6B(5).
A violation of this chapter is hereby declared
to be a violation punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by
imprisonment for not to exceed 15 days, or both. Each week's continued
violation shall constitute a separate additional violation.
A.
Authority to remove. In the event that the property owner, tenant, or the person in control of a property shall fail to comply with the standards enumerated in § 84-3, the Town shall have the authority to enter upon such property to bring the property into conformance with those standards, to assess the cost and expense of such action against the property and to establish a lien pursuant to § 84-6H.
B.
Inspection and report. The Building Inspector, or such other official of the Town as may be designated by the Town Board, upon notification by any official or employee of the Town that a property appears to be in violation of any standard enumerated in § 84-3, shall make an inspection thereof and report his or her findings to the Town Board.
C.
Notice. If the report required under § 84-6B substantiates that a standard has in fact been violated, the Town Board may adopt a resolution requiring that notice be served on the property owner and also requiring that the notice be conspicuously posted on the property.
D.
Contents of notice. The notice shall contain the address and Duchess County Tax Map number of the property, a statement of the condition of the property and the standard(s) which have been violated, and an order requiring that the property be brought into full compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3. The notice shall specify that the owner has 30 days after service thereof within which the owner served with such notice shall bring the property into full compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3. The notice shall further state the time and place of a public hearing to be held to determine whether the property is in compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3. The notice shall further state that, after the public hearing, if the property is determined by the Town Board not to be in compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3 the Town Board may undertake to enter upon the property, bring the property into compliance with standards enunciated in § 84-3, and assess the cost of such remediation against the property.
E.
Service of notice. The notice shall be served on the
property owner by certified mail to the address as appears on the
most recent Town of Hyde Park tax rolls and by posting of the notice
on the property.
F.
Public hearing. The public hearing shall be scheduled
for a regularly scheduled or special Town Board meeting after the
thirty-day period stated in the notice is set to expire.
G.
Failure to comply. After the public hearing is closed and the property owner fails to bring the property into compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3, the Town Board may adopt a resolution authorizing entrance upon the property in order to bring the property into compliance with the standards of this chapter and provide for the costs incurred.
H.
Assessment of costs and expenses. All costs and expenses incurred by the Town in connection with bringing a property into compliance with the standards enumerated in § 84-3 shall be assessed against the property. The total costs and expenses shall be determined by the Town Board and shall be reported to the Assessor of the Town as an amount to be levied and assessed against the property, and the expense so assessed shall constitute a lien and charge on the property on which it is levied until paid or otherwise satisfied or discharged and shall be collected in the same manner and at the same time as other Town charges.
